Wrapping Up

We're ready to check out of the Marriott Residence Inn. I have my exit interview from work shortly and just got back from a farewell lunch with most of my department at McMenamins Broadway. Tonight we return to McMenamins to have dinner and say goodbye to friends before our flight to New York.

I hate goodbyes, but the experience has been interesting. When you have people saying what they really think about you, and showing such respect - even talking about you in the third person - you'd normally expect that at a funeral, so it's interesting to experience it before you're dead. And in a way, we're already dead to Portland - we've been shuffling off our lives here in preparation for new ones overseas.